Articles By

Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino

Susana Whiffed on Behavioral Health

Two years after blowing New Mexico’s community behavioral health system to smithereens and bringing in companies from Arizona to replace it, spending $27 million in the process, the topic of behavioral health drew nary a mention from our Governor in her State of the State speech.

Nor did any of the press releases that accompanied her proposed budget for next year mention the topic.  It is not the subject of any legislative proposals sent down from the Fourth Floor.  She has no position on Albuquerque and Bernalillo County’s efforts to address the needs of the mentally ill and addicted populations, which include requests for additional taxes here and for increased State appropriations for services…

Heavy handed ‘Kendra’s Law’ offers simplistic solution for complex problem

Wednesday’s Albuquerque Journal editorial expressing the need for a State law mandating out-patient treatment for seriously mentally ill persons, while provocative and while expressing a widely-held point of view, reaches a faulty conclusion. This is especially true when it attempts to link the need for this “Kendra’s Law” approach to the tragedy involving James Boyd.

The editorial correctly points out that mandated out-patient treatment legislation has been considered and rejected several times by the Legislature in recent years. However, nothing in the Boyd situation changes the terms of the debate or the reasons I’ve opposed Kendra’s Law in the past. Nor does it minimize the importance of finding a solution to both the need for more and better mental health resources and the need for APD to stop shooting mentally ill people…